Regular Ibuprofen use protects against Parkinson’s Disease, study suggests
New research shows people who regularly take ibuprofen may reduce their risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, according to a study released February 17 that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto April 10 to April 17, 2010.
The research involved 136,474 people who did not have Parkinson’s disease at the beginning of the research. Participants were asked about their use of non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), including aspirin, ibuprofen and acetaminophen. After six years, 293 participants had developed Parkinson’s disease.
The study found regular users of ibuprofen were 40 percent less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than people who didn’t take ibuprofen. Also, people who took higher amounts of ibuprofen were less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than people who took smaller amounts of the drug. The results were the same regardless of age, smoking and caffeine intake.
“Ibuprofen was the only NSAID linked to a lower risk of Parkinson’s,” said Xiang Gao, MD, with Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. “Other NSAIDs and analgesics, including aspirin and acetaminophen, did not appear to have any effect on lowering a person’s risk of developing Parkinson’s. More research is needed as to how and why ibuprofen appears to reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease, which affects up to one million people in the United States.”
The study was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
This study confirmed results of a previous study in 2007 by Angelika D. Wahner, PhD, from the UCLA School of Public Health in Los Angeles.
This study involved 579 men and women, half of whom had Parkinson’s disease. The participants were asked if they had taken aspirin and if they had taken non-aspirin NSAIDs, such as ibuprofen, once a week or more at any point in their life for at least a month.
Participants were considered regular users of aspirin or non-aspirin NSAIDs if they took two or more pills a week for at least one month. Non-regular users were those who took fewer pills.
The study found regular users of non-aspirin NSAIDs reduced their risk of Parkinson’s disease by as much as 60 percent compared to non-regular users and non-users. Women who were regular users of aspirin reduced their risk of Parkinson’s disease by 40 percent, especially among those who regularly used aspirin for more than two years.
“Our findings suggest NSAIDs are protective against Parkinson’s disease, with a particularly strong protective effect among regular users of non-aspirin NSAIDs, especially those who reported two or more years of use,” said Wahner. “Interestingly, aspirin only benefited women. It may be that men are taking lower doses of aspirin for heart problems, while women may be using higher doses for arthritis or headaches.”
“It’s possible the anti-inflammatory agent in NSAIDs may contribute to the observed protective effect of the drugs, but the exact mechanism isn’t clear and further research is needed,” said the study’s principal investigator Beate Ritz, MD, PhD, with UCLA School of Public Health.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the American Parkinson Disease Association.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071105164504.htm
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100217171909.htm
